Friday, October 28, 2005
Putting Speed Bumps on Your Site
I went back today over some pages I had written for a client about a year ago. They were very much focused on the customer, and they covered all the points they needed to cover, but something just didn't seem right about them.
Then it hit me. They were too predictable. The way I had presented all the benefits and covered all the potential customer doubts was so smoothly crafted that you could just about slide right through them without reading them. There was nothing to make people stop and seriously consider what they were reading. In other words, there were no speed bumps to keep them from zipping through the page and moving off somewhere else.
So I built some speed bumps in. Previously, the text had mentioned the high quality workmanship of the products. I had worked into the text a subtle link to more details on what steps had been taken to achieve this high quality. But the link was so subtle that it was only natural to glide right over it into where I talked about how to select one of the products for themselves.
So I changed it so that after mentioning the quality, I threw a big speed bump right in front of them in the form of a headline that reads, "Don't believe us?" And I followed that by specifically telling them to click the link that led to the details about what made the products so high quality.
And, while I had them slowed down, I urged them to check out our testimonials to see what glowing things our customers have said about our products.
What had been a smooth slide through the page now forces them to confront their own skepticism with facts and with the favorable opinions of others. What had been a predictible block of text that could be dismissed as hype now challenges them to test what it said and diffuse their doubts.
You need to include speed bumps in your copywriting. Your readers will always approach what you say expecting you to have a high opinion of your product and skeptical of your glowing assessment of it.
If you let them zip through your copywriting with nothing to slow them down, they'll have so much momentum going that they'll fly off somewhere else without giving you a second thought. Give them a speed bump that makes them actually think about your product and you have a much better chance of getting the sale.
Jeff
I went back today over some pages I had written for a client about a year ago. They were very much focused on the customer, and they covered all the points they needed to cover, but something just didn't seem right about them.
Then it hit me. They were too predictable. The way I had presented all the benefits and covered all the potential customer doubts was so smoothly crafted that you could just about slide right through them without reading them. There was nothing to make people stop and seriously consider what they were reading. In other words, there were no speed bumps to keep them from zipping through the page and moving off somewhere else.
So I built some speed bumps in. Previously, the text had mentioned the high quality workmanship of the products. I had worked into the text a subtle link to more details on what steps had been taken to achieve this high quality. But the link was so subtle that it was only natural to glide right over it into where I talked about how to select one of the products for themselves.
So I changed it so that after mentioning the quality, I threw a big speed bump right in front of them in the form of a headline that reads, "Don't believe us?" And I followed that by specifically telling them to click the link that led to the details about what made the products so high quality.
And, while I had them slowed down, I urged them to check out our testimonials to see what glowing things our customers have said about our products.
What had been a smooth slide through the page now forces them to confront their own skepticism with facts and with the favorable opinions of others. What had been a predictible block of text that could be dismissed as hype now challenges them to test what it said and diffuse their doubts.
You need to include speed bumps in your copywriting. Your readers will always approach what you say expecting you to have a high opinion of your product and skeptical of your glowing assessment of it.
If you let them zip through your copywriting with nothing to slow them down, they'll have so much momentum going that they'll fly off somewhere else without giving you a second thought. Give them a speed bump that makes them actually think about your product and you have a much better chance of getting the sale.
Jeff
Thursday, October 27, 2005
How I Regained My Lost Google Traffic
About a month ago I discovered that the traffic I was used to getting absolutely free from Google had dried up—completely! I mean, there was not a sniff of Google traffic on my site. A number of top ten rankings simply disappeared overnight.
In the past, I would have started an immediate game of "catch the algorithm." I would have gone to sources I know who spend all their time trying to reverse engineer Google's rankings to figure out what'll get top rankings.
But the way Google's algorithm has jumped around this past year, I've gotten tired of constantly tweaking pages to regain my rankings. So this time I decided to do something different. I left my pages as they were and worked on building traffic through other means—syndicating my articles to other sites in return for a one-way incoming links, buying pay-per-click traffic, submitting to more directories.
Rather than spending my time trying to protect what I already had (hmm... didn't I write something in my blog about that earlier this week?), I worked on building new sources of traffic.
So then, this weekend, I started noticing a sudden spike in traffic. Sure enough, my lost top ten rankings in Google had reappeared as mysteriously as they had left. It goes to show the foolishness of playing "chase the algorithm" with Google. If I had reworked those pages, who knows if they would have come back to where they started.
Some pages will get high rankings, others will not. But when the search engine algorithms change to something less favorable to your exact keyword density and distribution, you'll have other pages for other keywords, and those pages will have different densities and different distributions that will rise in the rankings to take the others' place.
If you write well and clearly for your readers, you'll do better than if you write solely to please the search engine spiders.
Jeff
About a month ago I discovered that the traffic I was used to getting absolutely free from Google had dried up—completely! I mean, there was not a sniff of Google traffic on my site. A number of top ten rankings simply disappeared overnight.
In the past, I would have started an immediate game of "catch the algorithm." I would have gone to sources I know who spend all their time trying to reverse engineer Google's rankings to figure out what'll get top rankings.
But the way Google's algorithm has jumped around this past year, I've gotten tired of constantly tweaking pages to regain my rankings. So this time I decided to do something different. I left my pages as they were and worked on building traffic through other means—syndicating my articles to other sites in return for a one-way incoming links, buying pay-per-click traffic, submitting to more directories.
Rather than spending my time trying to protect what I already had (hmm... didn't I write something in my blog about that earlier this week?), I worked on building new sources of traffic.
So then, this weekend, I started noticing a sudden spike in traffic. Sure enough, my lost top ten rankings in Google had reappeared as mysteriously as they had left. It goes to show the foolishness of playing "chase the algorithm" with Google. If I had reworked those pages, who knows if they would have come back to where they started.
I've become increasingly convinced that the best strategy for search engine optimization is:
- Write lots of pages that are clearly focused on the keywords you want to target
- Write them for the people who will read them moreso than writing them for the search engines
- Include your keywords in the title, scatter it througout the page in headings, text, and links
- Make sure that a good number of the links that come into the page use your keywords in the link text
- Then leave those pages be
Some pages will get high rankings, others will not. But when the search engine algorithms change to something less favorable to your exact keyword density and distribution, you'll have other pages for other keywords, and those pages will have different densities and different distributions that will rise in the rankings to take the others' place.
If you write well and clearly for your readers, you'll do better than if you write solely to please the search engine spiders.
Jeff
Bigger Things Than Business
A day like today slaps me in the face with reminders that there's more to life than business.
We got word that my wife's mother died this morning. Then we got word that my son in Marine boot camp has reached the point of exhaustion and is struggling to keep going.
Yes, there's bigger things than business and it's a day where family matters take precedence.
Jeff
A day like today slaps me in the face with reminders that there's more to life than business.
We got word that my wife's mother died this morning. Then we got word that my son in Marine boot camp has reached the point of exhaustion and is struggling to keep going.
Yes, there's bigger things than business and it's a day where family matters take precedence.
Jeff
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
The Danger of Defending Yourself
How much time do you spend trying to make sure you don't get ripped off?
So many questions that people ask about promoting their businesses revolve around how to defend themselves. "How can I make sure that no one steals my content?" "How can I make sure that no one cheats me on reciprocal link exchanges?"
I'll admit, I've spent a lot—too much—time worrying about those exact same things and pouring hours into searching for those ripoff artists who try to take advantage of other webmasters. But the fact is that you find very few of them.
Sure, there's the occasional idiot who thinks that they only way to get ahead is to take advantage of someone else. But most of the time, the ripoffs that we worry about never happen.
The danger of spending a lot of time worrying about these things and trying to head them off is that it's time spent adding absolutely nothing to your business's growth. That four hours you spend searching for people plagarizing your work or cheating you on a reciprocal link could be spent doing promotional work that actually builds your traffic and your sales.
And what's even sadder, when we get all wrapped up in the ways that others might rip us off, we often hold back on things that could benefit us. We hold off on writing that ebook that we can sell because we fear the stray user who might give it out for free to someone else. Or we hold off on submitting articles to the article directories out of fear that someone might use our articles without including the link back to our site.
Idiots happen. But that shouldn't prevent us from moving forward with our business. Stay aware of how your work is used, but don't obsess over it. You can gain a lot more by spending your time on promoting your business than you can save by incessantly playing detective over it.
Jeff
How much time do you spend trying to make sure you don't get ripped off?
So many questions that people ask about promoting their businesses revolve around how to defend themselves. "How can I make sure that no one steals my content?" "How can I make sure that no one cheats me on reciprocal link exchanges?"
I'll admit, I've spent a lot—too much—time worrying about those exact same things and pouring hours into searching for those ripoff artists who try to take advantage of other webmasters. But the fact is that you find very few of them.
Sure, there's the occasional idiot who thinks that they only way to get ahead is to take advantage of someone else. But most of the time, the ripoffs that we worry about never happen.
The danger of spending a lot of time worrying about these things and trying to head them off is that it's time spent adding absolutely nothing to your business's growth. That four hours you spend searching for people plagarizing your work or cheating you on a reciprocal link could be spent doing promotional work that actually builds your traffic and your sales.
And what's even sadder, when we get all wrapped up in the ways that others might rip us off, we often hold back on things that could benefit us. We hold off on writing that ebook that we can sell because we fear the stray user who might give it out for free to someone else. Or we hold off on submitting articles to the article directories out of fear that someone might use our articles without including the link back to our site.
Idiots happen. But that shouldn't prevent us from moving forward with our business. Stay aware of how your work is used, but don't obsess over it. You can gain a lot more by spending your time on promoting your business than you can save by incessantly playing detective over it.
Jeff
Monday, October 24, 2005
Improving Google AdWords Ads
Last week I broke down and finally started studying Perry Marshall's Definitive Guide to Google AdWords. I wish I had done so long ago. I split tested two of his tips so far that I hadn't discovered on my own in my previous work with AdWords. Across the board the clickthru rates on my client's ads that used these two tips have been significantly better than the old ads (which were already pretty good).
As Perry's guide predicted, clickthrus have been better on ads that contained the keyword in the URL, and on ads that contained objective wording rather than subjective (for example, "Enjoy etched mirrors" beat "Stunning etched mirrors" every time).
(Note: don't take this to mean that you can improve any ad by putting the word "Enjoy" in it. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that certain words by themselves are what makes an ad work better. I'll be testing other wordings as I go along—as you should do with your ads—to keep trying to improve clickthrus right along.)
But I've been pleased with my results from Perry Marshall's guide. Check it out if you're doing Google AdWords. I've been doing Google AdWords successfully for three years and I managed to pick up some excellent tips from it.
Jeff
Last week I broke down and finally started studying Perry Marshall's Definitive Guide to Google AdWords. I wish I had done so long ago. I split tested two of his tips so far that I hadn't discovered on my own in my previous work with AdWords. Across the board the clickthru rates on my client's ads that used these two tips have been significantly better than the old ads (which were already pretty good).
As Perry's guide predicted, clickthrus have been better on ads that contained the keyword in the URL, and on ads that contained objective wording rather than subjective (for example, "Enjoy etched mirrors" beat "Stunning etched mirrors" every time).
(Note: don't take this to mean that you can improve any ad by putting the word "Enjoy" in it. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that certain words by themselves are what makes an ad work better. I'll be testing other wordings as I go along—as you should do with your ads—to keep trying to improve clickthrus right along.)
But I've been pleased with my results from Perry Marshall's guide. Check it out if you're doing Google AdWords. I've been doing Google AdWords successfully for three years and I managed to pick up some excellent tips from it.
Jeff
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Using SearchIt! Free Research Tool for Advanced Keyword Research
The SearchIt! free search tool consists of a window with two dropdown boxes and two text boxes. In the two dropdown boxes, you select the type of search you want to do. In the two text boxes, you select the search criteria (such as keywords or URLs) you want to use.
Rather than repeat the introductory info about SearchIt! that I shared last week, I suggest that you see the October 2nd blog for this information. Or simply realize that it is important to click all the links and read all the instructions that SearchIt! tells you to do.
You'll find SearchIt! A LOT easier and more valuable to use if you do that.
Using SearchIt!
The last couple of weeks we looked at using SearchIt! for researching keywords. This week we'll look at the tools that show you advanced information about how you or your competitors use your keywords.
In the Step 1 dropdown box, scroll down under KEYWORDS and select Where Are They?.
Click the dropdown box for Step 2: Select Search Type. You'll see the following options.
These types of searches mainly show which sites are making an effort to optimize for your keywords.
I, personally, make a lot of use of the Link in Title searches to get a feel for how many pages provide serious optimization competition for mine. There is a SIGNIFICANT difference in the number of pages you get for a basic search of the keyword itself and the type of specialized searches here. I always use the Link in Title searches to evaluate the true amount of competition I face.
Here's a tip if you're trying to find out how many pages are actively optimized for your keywords: note the number of results for the search. You can find this in the blue bar above the search results, where it says something like "Search Results 1 - 100 pages of about XXXX pages for (your keyword)." The number of pages it states shows you approximetely how many pages are trying to rank for that keyword.
Keyword in Link
Let's start by looking at the Keyword in Link option.
This kind of search shows you which sites include your keyword in links somewhere on their page. This should not be confused, however, for a search of sites that have your keyword frequently in links coming INTO their page, which would be a lot more revealing information. But many SEOs will use this type of search as I describe above, as an indication of how many pages are making a serious effort to optimize for that keyword.
You can also use this option as a brainstorming tool to check out the type of CONTENT other sites are developing around this keyword. Seeing the types of content that other sites are building can give you new ideas for additional content that you can build. In other words, this can be a good brainstorming tool to use for building content for your most important keywords.
To do this kind of search, type your keyword in the Step 3 box and click the SearchIt! button. Read the information about this search and click the link at the bottom to show your results.
Keyword in URL
This option shows you how many pages have your keyword in their URL. Type your keyword into the Step 3 box. Click the SearchIt! button. Its uses are similar to the ones described above for the Keyword in Link search.
Keyword in Title (Yahoo!) or Keyword in Title (Google)
Both of these options are essentially the same, merely done against the databases of two different search engines. As I said above, this is the test I always do on a keyword when I want to find out how stiff the competition is for it.
Since the search engines consider a page's title to be the most significant indicator of what that page is about, it's pretty likely that someone who puts your keyword in her page's title is trying to rank for that keyword.
If this type of search reveals that less than 1,000 pages are optimized for your keyword, you have an excellent chance of optimizing your page into the first page of search engine results. I've had success optimizing pages with up to a few hundred thousand results for this kind of search, but only with a lot of effort and a site that focuses specificially on those keywords.
Again, to do this search, type your keyword into the Step 3 box, click the SearchIt! button, read the information on the instruction page, and click the link to see your results.
Keyword in Site (Site-Search)
This tool shows you all the pages that contain your keyword within a specific site. Type your keyword into the Step 3 box and type a domain name (without the http:// or www.) in the Step 4 box. Then click the SearchIt! button.
The instruction page that appears has some great ideas for using this kind of search, such as searching for your keywords on major reference sites like About.com or forums to find ideas for content. The instructions also provide a link that you might find useful as an example of this kind of search. They do a search of their own site for all the pages that deal with monetizing a website. You might want to give those pages a look. They give a lot of great tips for ways to earn money from your site.
Next week
This Sunday, I've covered just the advance keyword search options that SearchIt! provides. Next Sunday, I'll show the tools it has for brainstorming or researching domain names and checking trademark information.
All in all, SearchIt! can find you lots of keywords and much other valuable information. The main thing to remember is to READ THE DIRECTIONS. With as many tools packed into this one interface, you're not going to take one look at it and intuitively understand how to use every one of them. But the directions they give are easy, and they do more than just tell you how to use each tool; they also throw in tips on how to use the results you receive to make your site more successful.
SearchIt! is one of these free tools that really produces value for you. I recommend that you check it out and make it a part of your web marketing arsenal.
Jeff
The SearchIt! free search tool consists of a window with two dropdown boxes and two text boxes. In the two dropdown boxes, you select the type of search you want to do. In the two text boxes, you select the search criteria (such as keywords or URLs) you want to use.
Rather than repeat the introductory info about SearchIt! that I shared last week, I suggest that you see the October 2nd blog for this information. Or simply realize that it is important to click all the links and read all the instructions that SearchIt! tells you to do.
You'll find SearchIt! A LOT easier and more valuable to use if you do that.
Using SearchIt!
The last couple of weeks we looked at using SearchIt! for researching keywords. This week we'll look at the tools that show you advanced information about how you or your competitors use your keywords.
In the Step 1 dropdown box, scroll down under KEYWORDS and select Where Are They?.
Click the dropdown box for Step 2: Select Search Type. You'll see the following options.
- Keyword in Link
- Keyword in URL
- Keyword in Title (Yahoo!)
- Keyword in Title (Google)
- Keyword in Site (Site-Search)
These types of searches mainly show which sites are making an effort to optimize for your keywords.
I, personally, make a lot of use of the Link in Title searches to get a feel for how many pages provide serious optimization competition for mine. There is a SIGNIFICANT difference in the number of pages you get for a basic search of the keyword itself and the type of specialized searches here. I always use the Link in Title searches to evaluate the true amount of competition I face.
Here's a tip if you're trying to find out how many pages are actively optimized for your keywords: note the number of results for the search. You can find this in the blue bar above the search results, where it says something like "Search Results 1 - 100 pages of about XXXX pages for (your keyword)." The number of pages it states shows you approximetely how many pages are trying to rank for that keyword.
Keyword in Link
Let's start by looking at the Keyword in Link option.
This kind of search shows you which sites include your keyword in links somewhere on their page. This should not be confused, however, for a search of sites that have your keyword frequently in links coming INTO their page, which would be a lot more revealing information. But many SEOs will use this type of search as I describe above, as an indication of how many pages are making a serious effort to optimize for that keyword.
You can also use this option as a brainstorming tool to check out the type of CONTENT other sites are developing around this keyword. Seeing the types of content that other sites are building can give you new ideas for additional content that you can build. In other words, this can be a good brainstorming tool to use for building content for your most important keywords.
To do this kind of search, type your keyword in the Step 3 box and click the SearchIt! button. Read the information about this search and click the link at the bottom to show your results.
Keyword in URL
This option shows you how many pages have your keyword in their URL. Type your keyword into the Step 3 box. Click the SearchIt! button. Its uses are similar to the ones described above for the Keyword in Link search.
Keyword in Title (Yahoo!) or Keyword in Title (Google)
Both of these options are essentially the same, merely done against the databases of two different search engines. As I said above, this is the test I always do on a keyword when I want to find out how stiff the competition is for it.
Since the search engines consider a page's title to be the most significant indicator of what that page is about, it's pretty likely that someone who puts your keyword in her page's title is trying to rank for that keyword.
If this type of search reveals that less than 1,000 pages are optimized for your keyword, you have an excellent chance of optimizing your page into the first page of search engine results. I've had success optimizing pages with up to a few hundred thousand results for this kind of search, but only with a lot of effort and a site that focuses specificially on those keywords.
Again, to do this search, type your keyword into the Step 3 box, click the SearchIt! button, read the information on the instruction page, and click the link to see your results.
Keyword in Site (Site-Search)
This tool shows you all the pages that contain your keyword within a specific site. Type your keyword into the Step 3 box and type a domain name (without the http:// or www.) in the Step 4 box. Then click the SearchIt! button.
The instruction page that appears has some great ideas for using this kind of search, such as searching for your keywords on major reference sites like About.com or forums to find ideas for content. The instructions also provide a link that you might find useful as an example of this kind of search. They do a search of their own site for all the pages that deal with monetizing a website. You might want to give those pages a look. They give a lot of great tips for ways to earn money from your site.
Next week
This Sunday, I've covered just the advance keyword search options that SearchIt! provides. Next Sunday, I'll show the tools it has for brainstorming or researching domain names and checking trademark information.
All in all, SearchIt! can find you lots of keywords and much other valuable information. The main thing to remember is to READ THE DIRECTIONS. With as many tools packed into this one interface, you're not going to take one look at it and intuitively understand how to use every one of them. But the directions they give are easy, and they do more than just tell you how to use each tool; they also throw in tips on how to use the results you receive to make your site more successful.
SearchIt! is one of these free tools that really produces value for you. I recommend that you check it out and make it a part of your web marketing arsenal.
Jeff
Playing Hide and Seek
Today was another day of clearing out the accumulation of tutorials, newsletters, courses, and ebooks from the past couple of weeks. It's been interesting, I've been checking out some different marketers and have found some interesting approaches to marketing.
Yet while the directions they come from are fresh and different, the destination remains the same: know your customer, serve your customer, see your customer's needs from your customer's perspective.
It's a message that needs to be beaten into all of us, because we marketers so often retreat into playing hide and seek.
Hide and seek?
Why is it that we try to hide behind a product, or a marketing technique, or even behind a massive body of educational materials that we build around us (yes, I'm guilty, as charged on that last one especially) and expect that customers are obligated to play their end of the game, namely to seek us out and find us? I think it's because of the fact that as much as we would like to connect with others, we feel inadequate to be the ones seeking them.
We feel inadequate at getting to know their needs, so we hide behind a business facade that makes us feel that we are reaching out and wait for them to do the real reaching out to us.
That's why, more and more, my gut tells me that growing into a successful business owner and growing into a more successful people person go hand in hand. In the arena of human interrelationships—of which business is just a small part—the person to be is the one who seeks, not the one who hides.
Jeff
Today was another day of clearing out the accumulation of tutorials, newsletters, courses, and ebooks from the past couple of weeks. It's been interesting, I've been checking out some different marketers and have found some interesting approaches to marketing.
Yet while the directions they come from are fresh and different, the destination remains the same: know your customer, serve your customer, see your customer's needs from your customer's perspective.
It's a message that needs to be beaten into all of us, because we marketers so often retreat into playing hide and seek.
Hide and seek?
Why is it that we try to hide behind a product, or a marketing technique, or even behind a massive body of educational materials that we build around us (yes, I'm guilty, as charged on that last one especially) and expect that customers are obligated to play their end of the game, namely to seek us out and find us? I think it's because of the fact that as much as we would like to connect with others, we feel inadequate to be the ones seeking them.
We feel inadequate at getting to know their needs, so we hide behind a business facade that makes us feel that we are reaching out and wait for them to do the real reaching out to us.
That's why, more and more, my gut tells me that growing into a successful business owner and growing into a more successful people person go hand in hand. In the arena of human interrelationships—of which business is just a small part—the person to be is the one who seeks, not the one who hides.
Jeff
© 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Jeff Baas, One Stop Web Support
